If You Could Bring One Place Back...

Cee Cee Wrote:
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> Polar Bear Ice Cream...in the same old building on
> Zangs off Colorado.

One thing East Dallas had that Oak Cliff did not was Ashburn's Ice Cream. I realize that the same family owned both, but Ashburn's had peach ice cream in the summer that was wonderful. It was nothing like the stuff sold today as peach ice cream. It was creamy, without the large, hard frozen chunks of peaches that all modern peach ice cream suffers from. The peach taste was well blended into the ice cream and it was delicious.

I recently read an article in the Dallas Morning News about the original Ashburn's Ice Cream parlor in Sherman. One of the family was interviewed, and he explained the peach ice cream, made only in summer, and only from very ripe peaches, peaches that dripped juice even before being cut into. When the peaches were added to the ice cream mix, they were blended into it so that no frozen chunks would form.

When I delivered the Dallas Times Herald, I used to stop at the Ashburn's on Skillman and get a peach ice cream cone part way through my route about once a week in summer.

old man from dallas Wrote:
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...Ashburn's had peach ice
> cream in the summer that was wonderful. It was
> nothing like the stuff sold today as peach ice
> cream. It was creamy, without the large, hard
> frozen chunks of peaches that all modern peach ice
> cream suffers from. The peach taste was well
> blended into the ice cream and it was delicious.

Dave, the best place I know to get peach ice cream like that is Ham's Orchard in Terrell. They have a pretty respectable burger too.

altozwei Wrote:
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> old man from dallas Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> ...Ashburn's had peach ice
> > cream in the summer that was wonderful. It was
> > nothing like the stuff sold today as peach ice
> > cream. It was creamy, without the large, hard
> > frozen chunks of peaches that all modern peach
> ice
> > cream suffers from. The peach taste was well
> > blended into the ice cream and it was
> delicious.
>
> Dave, the best place I know to get peach ice cream
> like that is Ham's Orchard in Terrell. They have a
> pretty respectable burger too.

I'll try to remember that, and stop when I'm next in Terrell. But if they have peach ice cream outside of peach season, then it is not the same. Ashburn's only made peach ice cream in summer when local, fresh, ripe peaches were available.

Ham Orchard does have great soft serve peach and strawberry ice cream, as well as good burgers and hot dogs, not to mention fudge, cobblers and produce. But they are only open from the middle of May through the middle of August, and this last season they were closed on Sundays. It was not a nice thing to drive way out there, only to find them not open for business

bug Wrote:
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> Ham Orchard does have great soft serve peach and
> strawberry ice cream, as well as good burgers and
> hot dogs, not to mention fudge, cobblers and
> produce. But they are only open from the middle
> of May through the middle of August, and this last
> season they were closed on Sundays. It was not a
> nice thing to drive way out there, only to find
> them not open for business

Well, being that they are an orchard, and they only have peach ice cream in summer, then it should be made from local, fresh peaches. Ashburn's ice cream was not soft serve, though. It was regular ice cream, scooped into the cone, but made with very ripe, juicy peaches blended into the mix.

My mother has never really enjoyed cooking so we ate out often, especially every Sunday after church. It was usually a rotation of Wyatt's (at Hampton and 67 and later Red Bird Mall), The Windjammer (fantastic hushpuppies) and El Fenix (both on Colorado). The El Fenix cafeteria was a weeknight choice and it was amazing. Same great food, but as much as you wanted AND the sopapilla lady brought around a basket of hot sopapillas. I remember being very happy when I aged out of the kids meals and could order the buffet. If the kids were well behaved, if Mama was in a good mood, if Daddy wasn't feeling cheap and all the stars were properly aligned, we would go to the Polar Bear Ashburns at the end of the shopping center. No one ~needed~ ice cream after an all you can eat Tex Mex buffet, but that never stopped us from begging to go.

Not that you asked, but just because I'm in a reminiscing mood, other favorite restaurants: The Breast of Chicken (near Kiest and Polk, I think. Later became The Back Porch), Ming Garden (on Preston Road), Benavides and El Chico (when we cheated on El Fenix), Victoria Station, Steak & Ale, Jay's Marine Grill (the one on Mockingbird) with a fair sprinkling of Pizza Inn, Dairy Queen and Braum's thrown in for good measure.

Hmmmm... I'd start with the old Dickey's Barbecue on Knox/Henderson, before they became a chain. And Johnny Clemens' Hobby Counter on Lower Greenville, and Hall's Variety in Skillman-Live Oak Shopping Center.

Downtown department stores, especially Sanger Harris. Oak Cliff, but remember its modern residents have found their homes, too. Pitt Grill as it was in the sixties, complete with hash browns cooked in a metal ring on the griddle with grease poured into them from a pitcher as they cooked. Five Mile Creek. Austin's. West Illinois where it descended the bluff toward Mountain Creek Lake. White Rock Creek upstream of Central Expressway. Jefferson Boulevard with the old stores. Phil's Delicatessan. The cafeteria in Westmoreland Heights Shopping Center. Naylor's Fried Chicken Restaurant. The big Sears store on S. Lamar. The old Fine Arts Theatre, preporn. Lakewood Shopping Center late fifties-early sixties. Ashburn's Ice Cream. Bennie's Shoe Store. High school bands. The Cotton Bowl as it was then.

Dave, the cafeteria I remember at Westmoreland Heights was one called Donnell's (I may not have that spelling exactly correct). We used to go there for lunch with my grandparents after Saturday morning shopping. There was also a pet shop there called Tropical Seas that sold quite a variety of animals. I would go look every time I got the opportunity.

altozwei Wrote:
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> Dave, the cafeteria I remember at Westmoreland
> Heights was one called Donnell's (I may not have
> that spelling exactly correct). We used to go
> there for lunch with my grandparents after
> Saturday morning shopping. There was also a pet
> shop there called Tropical Seas that sold quite a
> variety of animals. I would go look every time I
> got the opportunity.

Yes, Donnell's is correct. It was on the northeast corner of the center, Dutton Drive, across from the back of the theater. The food was very good. When I worked at the A&P in that shopping center, I would eat there about one Saturday per month. I also occasionally ate at the Naylor's Fried Chicken that took over the space of the old Snack Bar . Usually I got a burger at the counter of Page's Drug Store, more fitting to my pocketbook. That cost a quarter, and a coke to go with it was a dime. Early sixties.

old man from dallas Wrote:
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> Just one? No, many.
>
> Downtown department stores, especially Sanger
> Harris. Oak Cliff, but remember its modern
> residents have found their homes, too. Pitt Grill
> as it was in the sixties, complete with hash
> browns cooked in a metal ring on the griddle with
> grease poured into them from a pitcher as they
> cooked. Five Mile Creek. Austin's. West
> Illinois where it descended the bluff toward
> Mountain Creek Lake. White Rock Creek upstream of
> Central Expressway. Jefferson Boulevard with the
> old stores. Phil's Delicatessan. The cafeteria
> in Westmoreland Heights Shopping Center. Naylor's
> Fried Chicken Restaurant. The big Sears store on
> S. Lamar. The old Fine Arts Theatre, preporn.
> Lakewood Shopping Center late fifties-early
> sixties. Ashburn's Ice Cream. Bennie's Shoe
> Store. High school bands. The Cotton Bowl as it
> was then.
>
> But there are plenty I'm glad are gone, too.

OLD MAN FROM DALLAS, when you say west illinois where it went down the bluff towards mountain creek lake, wasnt that a real curvy winding road? And wasnt there many accidents on that road? When i was a kid seems i remember us going down that road and my mother would tell us stories of accidents that happened on it, seems like i remember people rock climbing on the rocky bluff while we were on that road too. Im just wondering if thats the same stretch of road you talking about, it was just 2 lanes too right?

I'm not ol man but west Illinois went around the hill just west of Loop 12 back then. One lane went on the north side of the hill West and the Other lane was on the South side going East. The Googel Maps aerial of that area still show the old road. So it was actually two one lane roads - both one way.

Wayne Pritchett Wrote:
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> I'm not ol man but west Illinois went around the
> hill just west of Loop 12 back then. One lane went
> on the north side of the hill West and the Other
> lane was on the South side going East. The Googel
> Maps aerial of that area still show the old road.
> So it was actually two one lane roads - both one
> way.
>
> Wayne

Exactly right, Wayne. I do not remember that there were lots of accidents there, but I do remember one. Friends and I from Oak Cliff used to use that route to go to Arlington, and one in particular liked to take that downhill portion at as fast a speed as he could manage. One morning he didn't manage, and we hit the guard rail. No one was hurt, but the side of his car was banged up pretty badly, though still driveable. We went on to class. Seems the car was actually his father's, or at least his father had bought it for him. That father was not happy.